My Wandering Shadow ::Hiei Jaganshi::
by Takara1991
Summary: **Set in Chapter Black saga** After a falling out of their friendship, Hiei and Ryuka separate for good... Or so they think. Thirty years pass before they are reunited again, both members of Team Urameshi... As they balance working as a team to defeat the Senui Seven and fighting the "demons" of their past, Ryuka and Hiei realize that a lot can change in thirty years... HieixOc
1. Prologue

When 15 year old Thunder Demon, Ryuka Takamoto, bitterly parts ways with her best friend, 20 year old fire demon Hiei Jaganshi, after years of friendship, her entire life turns upside down.

She gets by alone in the Makai for fifteen years before being spotted by Spirit World police in a clumsy raid for supplies. It's a game of cat and mouse for five years when Koenma, Prince of the Spirit World, sends his team of two Spirit Detectives after her; Shinobu Sensui and Annote Itsuki.

Ryuka evades their traps for five years, before finally falling victim to Shinobu on the night of her 17th birthday. Koenma gives her an offer; the death penalty, or join the two young men and work for him as a Spirit Detective. Her exquisite skills with her sword and unique electric based abilities could be of great use to the team.

Three years go by, and the three young Spirit Detectives are close knit and inseparable. Shinobu and Ryuka kindle a hidden romance, until one night when a mission goes terribly wrong... Shinobu begins to lose his mind, becoming increasingly violent and mentally unstable, developing strange personalities...

Ultimately, Shinobu is forced to retire on Koenma's strict orders. Itsuki resigns as a result, refusing to work for the Spirit World without Shinobu, his best friend. The two disappear seemingly into nothing, without a trace.

Despite his desperate attempts to persuade Ryuka to take Shinobu's place as head Spirit Detective, she declines, heartbroken over the loss of yet another soul she was close to. She does agree, however, to continue working under cover as a Japanese High School student, keeping her eyes and ears connected with the Spirit Word as a sort of secret agent.

Ryuka does this for seven years, repeating the 12th grade at seven different High Schools, acting as a sort of radar for demon activity, which was usually low and easily exterminated... That is, until word spreads through the Spirit World community that the Chapter Black tape has been stolen, with Koenma's suspicions pointing towards none other than Shinobu Sensui.

Along with the missing tape come a strange new species of bugs, untraceable to the human eye, but fully visible to demons or immortals. An obvious sign that something isn't quite right...

Ryuka's suspicions are confirmed when Botan, her best friend, surprises her in her favorite coffee shop one evening after school, an "emergency" on her hands, requiring Ryuka to accompany her to an unknown location at once. Just like always, Botan provides her with little information, only that it's imperative she come with her. So, of course after being given no choice, Ryuka abides by her friend's wishes.

When she arrives at Sarayashiki High School, she meets Kuwabara, a member of the new Spirit Detective team, and it isn't until then that she realizes the trouble that the world is in... And that Koenma assigned Ryuka to work with the Spirit Detectives, solving this strange, dangerous mystery... There's just one problem they have to solve first, and that's to free Yusuke Urameshi, the lead detective, from a group of kidnappers, believed the be a group of powerful human teens...

After a close call inside the mansion of four dimensions saving Yusuke's life, Ryuka finds herself glued into the position of member #5 on Team Urameshi, completely against her will. But, with no other option and the fate of the world at the hands of a sinister group known as "the Sensui Seven", there isn't much she can do...

Even though, as if things aren't already crazy enough, she recognizes a certain fire demon on the Urameshi Team all too well, and isn't particularly happy about it... But time is running out, so they'll have to set their differences aside and work together as a team.

The fate of the world depends on it.

-Continued in depth in: -Chapter One-.


	2. Ch 1: Strange Happenings

"Say something new, I have nothing left; I can't face the dark without you. There's nothing left to lose, the fighting never ends... I won't face the dark without you.

I forgive you, forget you, the end."

- Breaking Benjamin - "Without You"

x X x

-Ryuka- *Present*

"So, just like the book says, the industrial revolution was a crucial part of American History, so be sure to thoroughly cover it in your notes..." The dull voice of my teacher, Mr. Tanaka, droned on from the front of the white-washed classroom, "And by thoroughly, I don't mean copying paragraphs straight out of the book. Use your brains, people."

I absent mindedly stared at the white board from my seat in the back corner of the room, right next to the window. Mr. Tanaka had his back to the class, scribbling down our homework assignment in blue dry erase marker. I could barely understand his sloppy chicken scratch, but it really didn't matter. I wasn't going to copy the assignment down, because I didn't plan on doing it.

Mr. Tanaka was a short, stalky man with glasses and a shiny bald spot on the back of his head. He always tried to dress nice in a suit and tie, but somehow always wound up with his jacket shed, his shirt untucked and a few coffee stains on his slacks by the time our fifth period class rolled around. It was right after lunch, after all.

"And don't forget to re-read chapter seventeen, because we WILL be re-taking the test tomorrow." Mr. Tanaka scolded as he capped the marker and turned around, shaking his head while flipping through a stack of papers on the right corner of his desk, "These scores are atrocious. More than half of you failed."

The entire class groaned in dismay at this news, except me. I just made a mental note to skip tomorrow, which I knew wouldn't go over well with Koenma... It never did. But, he'd just have to throw a fit and get over it.

"Aw, C'mon, Mr. Tanaka!" Toshi, a dopey jock in the second row, whined to our teacher, "We really have to take the test again? What about those of us who passed it?!"

"I wouldn't concern yourself with that too much, Toshi," Mr. Tanaka came back without missing a beat, "You were not one of those lucky few. We will be re-taking the test at the beginning of class tomorrow, so I suggest everyone spends their night studying. In fact," He paused to check his wrist watch, "There's still eight minutes of class left, so let's review. Everyone turn in your textbooks to chapter seventeen."

My classmates around me moaned again in disapproval, sluggishly shuffling loose papers on their desks and flipping to the right page in the thick textbooks. I just rolled my eyes, not bothering to do any of that, and turned to stare out the window that I was next to, and so thankful for.

My fifth period American History class was on the third floor of Building C, which was the biggest building at Koishikawa High School, the only one with an extra floor. It was also the point in the triangle it made with Buildings A and B, trapping the grassy courtyard in the middle. My classroom was on the inner wall of the building, facing the courtyard, giving me a perfect view out the window from my seat.

It was safe to say that because of that window, I was never focused in History class... Or really any of my classes, for that matter. If I didn't have a window to gaze out of, I always found something else to distract me from whatever the teacher was babbling on about.

I guess you could say I was a bad student, but really, it didn't matter how poor my grades or attendance records were, (And I'll admit to the fact that I had a horrible habit of skipping class, which like I said before, never went over well with Koenma; my boss.) because in reality, I'd been through the senior year seven consecutive years in a row, all at different schools in the Tokyo, Japan area. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an idiot, or anything. In fact, I knew the school curriculum pretty much backwards and forwards, but at the end of the years, my goal was never to graduate. Ultimately, the staff members and student body would under-go a memory erasing procedure, making them forget all about me and my existence.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me give better explanation...

See, being a high school student is sort of my... Job. But I didn't get paid... Basically, I wasn't human like all the other students. I was a demon, over 100 years old, working undercover in the living world as a human teenager (One of the perks of being a demon: Perpetually appearing young, about 18 or 19, forever.)

My job was to keep an eye out for any suspicious paranormal or demonic activity in the living world, while staying well hidden under the radar myself. Usually, only weaker class demons managed to slip by the Makai barrier, trying to reek havoc on the humans in the living world... Mortals were their favorite snack, after all.

But they were no match for me... Not trying to brag or anything. Once I tracked them down, it only took a matter of seconds for me to exterminate them, not even giving them a chance to beg for their lives... They were just pests.

Higher class demons, on the other hand, were much smarter, and more stealthy... They were better at slipping by the barriers undetected, and usually had their plan of attack very carefully thought out... And normally, it was far more devastating than just munching on a few humans and going about their way. No, when high class demons showed their faces in the living world, mass murder was always in their agenda.

But most of the time, it was quiet. I hadn't seen a big enough threat to cause any real worry in a long time, so usually my days were smooth sailing.

When a threat that serious did surface again though, and I knew for a fact that it would, I was ready.

"Ryuka."

My head suddenly snapped forward at the sharp sound of my name, abruptly startling me out of my day dream and causing me to drop my pen. It clattered on the floor, and someone across the room snickered.

All around me, the eyes of my classmates were digging into me like dull daggers as I leaned down to pick up my pen, tucking a strand of my long, straight chestnut colored hair behind my ear. At the front of the classroom, Mr. Takanaka led the stare down, peering at me over his wire rimmed glasses that were perched at the end of his pointy nose.

"Yes?" I replied to Mr. Takanaka when I was sitting upright again, blinking my seafoam green eyes twice.

"I see you're not taking notes." My teacher snidely pointed out with a sneer, "Why is that?"

I rolled my eyes and rested my elbows on my desk, lazily propping my chin in my palms. As I answered Mr. Tanaka, my tone was flat and bored, "Because I already know all this stuff."

"Oh, do you, Miss Takamoto?" My teacher challenged me, raising his eyebrows sarcastically.

"Look my name up in that stack of tests." I dared him, nodding my head upwards at the desk behind him, "I bet I'm one of the 'lucky few' who passed."

Mr. Tanaka frowned and furrowed his thick, dark eyebrows. I knew he wouldn't pull my test out, so instead he continued to try and call my non-existant bluff.

"Let's just test your knowledge, then." He growled, flipping through the pages of the thick textbook he held open in front of him, "How much was suffragette Susan B. Anthony fined for voting in 1872?"

"$100." I replied dryly without missing a beat.

"Very good." Mr. Tanaka grumbled with a forced smile, but it was obvious he wasn't happy I'd gotten the answer right. "That was an easy one... Who did James Earl Ray shoot in Memphis in April 1968?"

"Martin Luther King."

"Where was the first nuclear reactor built, by Enrico Fermi?"

"Chicago."

"How much did President Roosevelt pay so that the Panama Canal could be built?"

"$40 million."

This time, it was my turn to stare Mr. Tanaka down in a challenging way. I raised my eyebrows at him, and the class turned and stared as he scowled at me. I waited patiently for my smug, speechless teacher to rattle off another question that I'd know the answer to.

He didn't get a chance to, though, before the bell signaling the end of fifth period changed loudly in the halls. Like clockwork, my peers stood up around me, and I joined them, grabbing hold of my brown leather brief case and filing my way out of the classroom and into the crowded halls. I didn't even try to hide my triumphant smirk as I brushed by Mr. Tanaka on my way out, enjoying his flustered, red faced expression.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it when my human teachers challenged me like that. They always thought they had the upper hand, and tried to make me look like an idiot as a result of me not paying attention, or falling asleep, or disagreeing with what they happened to be babbling on about. Every single time, though, they ended up just turning the tables on themselves, and eating their own words. I loved it.

What I didn't love, though, was dealing with the pushy crowds of human teenagers. Just like all the others from the years before, they had no respect for other people's walking space or obligations, and more than once I'd found myself screaming at some oblivious boy or girl for blocking my way, or backing into me and knocking my books from my hands.

So, I'd learned from those experiences, and now just pushed and bulldozed my way through the crowds I needed to get passed, crushing my books and other supplies to my chest so they stayed safely in my arms and not on the floor.

Six period was starting in less than three minutes, but I didn't care. I was late almost everyday to sixth period, if I decided to show up at all. It was just Photoshop Techniques A-B, and my teacher, Ms. Yoko, was always too immersed in the latest Internet news and viral videos with her ear buds plugging up her ears to notice who was there or not. I honestly don't even know how that woman still had her job, but whatever.

Finally, I made it out to the courtyard through the south entrance of building C, just in time to hear someone calling out my name.

"Ryu! Hey, Ryuka!"

I turned to my left, the direction the voice was coming from, and noticed three of my human friends rushing toward me. They were all dressed identical to me, our school's female uniform: A white collared shirt, turquoise dress tie, black button up cardigan, gray pleated mini skirt, black thigh high socks and brown loafers. Their names were Fiori, Saoku, and Hana, and they weren't bad for human girls... Usually, I couldn't stand the girls. They were so snobby, vein, and catty... I normally steered clear of them, making friends with the guys, or keeping to myself in my comfortable loner ways. I knew it didn't matter how close I got to anyone in these schools, anyway... They wouldn't remember a thing about me when the year was up, so really, it was a waste of time.

"Hey, guys." I greeted the girls as they ambled up to me, "What's up?"

"We just wanted to tell you about Kyo's party tonight!" Hana spoke up first, the tallest of the group, and the only one with dark hair and eyes. She lugged her clarinet case with her, her sheet music in a folder tucked under her arm. "It's gonna be a big one."

"Yea! All the hot guys are gonna be there." Saoku added in with a sly smirk, wiggling her lime green eyebrows at me, which matched her wavy shoulder length hair.

"Oh, really...?" I replied distantly, but the truth was, I was totally zoned out as Fiori started describing Kyo's extravagant house with an enormous pool, because something else had caught my attention... Something that was way out of the ordinary.

Perched on Hana's shoulder, my sharp eyes could see a small insect... A creepy looking one with a pale, scaly outer shell, beady red eyes and a pointy stinger. I nodded blankly as the girls kept talking to me, but I had no idea what they were saying. I was getting a bad vibe from that bug... But my three human friends couldn't seem to see it. It was a pretty decent sized insect, totally noticeable to the naked eye, but maybe not to the immortal eye... That was an even worse sign.

"Hey, whoa!" I suddenly cried out, pretending like I'd just seen something happen across the courtyard, "What just happened over there?!"

I pointed, causing Saoku, Hana, and Fiori to turn and look behind them, giving me just enough time to swat and squash that strange bug off of Hana's shoulder. When the three girls turned back toward me, they had puzzled looks on their faces.

"There's nothing over there, Ryu..." Fiori told me slowly, furrowing her blonde eyebrows over her crystal blue eyes.

"Oh, haha, I guess I'm just seeing things..." I forced a casual laugh, waving off my previous hysterics with my hand. "About the party... I don' t think I can make it tonight. I'm really tired, and I've got a lot of studying to do for Mr. Tanaka's class..."

Yea, it was a total lie, but that weird bug was sending up red flags all over my mind... I had to get to Spirit World ASAP and tell Koenma about this.

"All right," Hana replied with a shrug, "Call us if you change your mind!"

"Okay, I will!" I called out to them as I waved, "Don't have too much fun without me!"

Each girl turned and waved back over their shoulders, yelling back out to me, "Bye, Ryuka!"

When they turned the corner, I breathed a tense sigh. The bell chimed from the halls, and the remainder of the students hurried across the courtyard and disappeared into the buildings, late to 6th period. I was in the same boat, but I wasn't planning on attending 6th period, or 7th either, for that matter.

I had to get the hell to Spirit World, and fast.

.

..

...

..

.

To be continued...

AN:: hey everyone! Sorry this chapter was so short.. I was initially going to make it a little longer, but it's like 5:30 AM and I just wanted to post it. I know there was no Hiei or real action yet, but I'm just trying to take the story at a slow, even pace.

Please leave me some comments and let me know how you like it so far! Thank you!

-takara1991


	3. Ch 2: A Huge Mess

AN:: hello everyone! Takara1991 here. Just wanted to let everyone know I edited the Prologue just a tad, just so no one's confused! Here we go, onto Ch. 2!

X. X. X.

-Ryuka *Present*-

"SO MUCH PAPERWORK!" Koenma loudly complained from behind his desk where he was seated in his huge, comfy office chair, "The next time I go somewhere, I simply must find a way to clone myself."

"I've heard that one before." I grumbled from across his office, seated in a much smaller office chair, watching as the talking toddler feverishly stamped paper after paper, snatching them from an enormous stack to his right. "So, I've been here for over 20 minutes, and I've been trying to tell you something really important, but you keep interrupting me every time I try to-"

"Ryuka, for goodness sake, can't it wait?!" The tiny prince snapped, cutting me off mid-sentence and proving the exact point I was trying to make, "Attending the Dark Tournament has put me so far behind on these paradise and punishment papers, I simply must get them finished or daddy will be so angry with me...!"

He always talked about his "daddy"; King Enma; An immensely powerful immortal who supposedly ruled the entire Spirit World, but I'd never seen him in my 180 years of existence. But, I never questioned Koenma about him, figuring it was sort of a touchy subject, and just let him carry on with his frantic, chicken-with-its-head-cut-off way of doing things.

I rolled my green eyes and let out a loud, frustrated sigh, before glaring at my pint-sized boss and replying sarcastically, "Yea, totally. It's only, you know, REALLY IMPORTANT, but that's okay. I'll wait."

Koenma didn't reply, and just kept stamping away at those papers, mumbling to himself like a crazy person. I sighed flatly, realizing I really was going to have to wait for him, and started spinning around in my chair out of pure boredom. Suddenly, the sound of the huge pair of double doors bursting open a few feet away from me caught me off guard, startling me and causing me to lose control of the wildly spinning chair.

"AH!" I yelped as the wheels jammed and sent me toppling to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"KOENMA, SIR!" A panicked voice cried out, and heavy, thundering footsteps pounded over toward the desk. I recognized the deep voice, and when my head stopped spinning I noticed that it belonged to George, Koenma's ogre assistant. "We've got problems!" The beast suddenly noticed me laying sprawled on the floor just a few feet away, and glanced down at me, "Oh, hello, Ryuka..."

"Hey, George." I greeted the ogre with a half-hearted wave, still trying to deal with the lingering dizzy-spell.

The Prince let out an annoyed sigh and grumbled in response, "Yes, I agree, we have a problem. He's big and blue and wears leopard underwear, and he never seems to leave me alone..."

I frowned as I straightened my school uniform and stood up on my wobbly feet, trying my best to smooth my long, chocolate brown hair back down. That was typical of Koenma; Hires an ogre to be his assistant, but bitches that he bothers him too much. Forces me to either work for him as an undercover agent in the living world or serve my 2,000 year prison sentence, but refuses to listen to me when I come to him with valuable information that could determine that fate of the human race.

But, hey, I wasn't human. Not my problem. It'd be his own damn fault for ignoring me.

"I'm serious!" George whined as he slapped a piece of paper onto Koenma's desk, "Just look at this intelligence report, it's BIG!"

That huge stack of papers sitting to Koenma's right slowly started wavering back and forth like an unstable sky scraper, and I instantly knew it was going down... This wasn't going to be good.

Just as I thought, one paper fell out of place, followed by another, and another, and soon the entire stack collapsed, fanning all over onto the desk and the floor. Koenma let out a wail, crawling up onto his desk and pointing his finger into George's face, "YOU WHITE HORNED NINNY! YOU JUST MIXED THE PARADISES WITH THE PUNISHMENTS, NOW I'LL HAVE TO START ALL OVER-!"

He leapt up and began to clobber George, who yelped and tried his best to yank the tiny prince away, but Koenma was like a leech as he clung to the ogre's neck and smacked him in the forehead repeatedly, screaming various insults at him.

I ignored the two of them and snatched up that report before it could get lost amoung the other papers, and quickly scanned over the typed print. As my eyes passed over the words, my heart sank.

"Koenma!" I cried out, my eyes growing wide in disbelief. My boss was still too busy quarling with George, so I raised my voice and called out to him again, "KOENMA!" This time, they both instantly froze, staring at me with wide eyes. I took that as a sign to continue, "This is what I was trying to tell you about!"

The small immortal looked at me with puzzled eyes, so I just shoved the paper in his face, "Just read it."

He snatched it and hopped off of George's back, who looked extremely relieved. Koenma landed back on his desk and quickly read the report over, his dark brown eyes filling with a mixture of fear and anger. Finally, he glanced up to George.

"Thank you, Ogre." He said to him, his voice sounding somewhat panicked but calm at the same time, somehow, "You may go..."

George first blinked at Koenma, then at me, before uncertainly nodding his head and turning to leave the office, "Yes, sir."

Slowly, I sat back down in my chair as I watched Koenma fiercely scan that paper over and over, pacing the top his desk as he did so. "This is not good, Ryuka. Oh, this is not good at all..."

"I told you it was important..." I mumbled in reply, swallowing hard. "At school, I saw these really weird bugs... But no one else seemed to be able to see them but me."

Koenma's wide eyes suddenly snapped up to meet mine, "Did you say bugs?"

I nodded my head, and the Prince began pacing again.

"Oh, no. That makes it much worse. Much, much worse."

"Koenma, what the hell's going on?" I demanded, furrowing my eyebrows together, "What do the bugs mean? I've never seen them before."

My boss plopped himself back down in his chair, leaning his elbows on the desk and cradling his head in his tiny hands. "Energy bursts. Demonic insects are drawn to them, and if they're being detected in the human world... It's not a good sign. Something bad is around the corner..."

"What?" I gasped, snatching the report back from his desk, "Let me see this... It says the sightings and strange energy readings have only been reported around my city... But look at all the deaths! That's one.. Two... Almost twenty humans in just a week! But how is that possible? Could it be because of those bugs?"

Koenma shook his head and let out a grave sounding sigh, "I believe they're just the tip of the iceburg... Ooh, I wasn't expecting another crisis so soon...!"

"Crisis?" I repeated, my voice raising an octave as my eyes snapped up from the report, "Koenma, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It's too soon yet to tell." The toddler replied seriously as he shook his head, "Listen. I need you to stay in the human world, and keep a sharp eye out for anything else unusual. I'm going to do some more research, and I'll send Botan for you in a few days. I fear something potentially devastating is about to happen..."

I stared at Koenma and gulped, nodding my head as I realized how serious he was. He dismissed me from his office, and as I stood up to leave, I had a very, very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach...

X. X. X.

-Hiei *Present*-

Something didn't feel quite right in this wretched human city... The air was thick with energy, a strange mixture of strong surges that I had never felt before.

I usually kept out of sight, staying as far away from the humans as possible... They were such annoying, pointless creatures, I didn't see why I wasted my time with them... I could easily eliminate them all, rid the world of their bothersome existence... But then I'd have gotten my criminal record cleared for nothing. Still, that damn toddler had me on probation, bound to this city until he said otherwise. It wasn't much better, but I'd take what I could get.

The clouds overhead were dark and threatening, and the smell of rain was heavy in the air as it whipped by my face. My boots lightly tapped against the rooftops of the cities buildings as I leapt from one to the other, staying off the streets and making my way to one of the usual areas I hung around in, an old abandoned construction site.

It was on the outskirts of the city, where humans rarely ventured to, so I was always alone... Exactly how I liked it. A skeletal structure made of rusted steel bars stood on the barren ground in the hollow shape of a skyscraper, reaching up toward the dark sky. It was deathly quiet, with just the whispering of the wind... And suddenly, a dull buzzing noise. And it was growing closer by the second.

I froze in my tracks, my senses heightened as I focused on the sound, quickly determining that it was coming from my left, about five inches away. I had it pinpointed, and quickly turned to face whatever it was. With just a sharp swipe of my fingertips, I severed what turned out to be some sort of insect...

Hn. Didn't even have to draw my katana.

With a glance down toward the ground where the insect's carcass was, I noticed it wasn't just any regular pest... No, this was something not of human origin... An insect from the demon world. That would explain these strange surges of energy... The demon insects were drawn out to it.

I narrowed my eyes at the squashed pest as its long legs stopped twitching, then leapt up the metal wrungs of the structure. Within seconds, I reached the top of the steel skeleton, and I had a vast view of the city. Miles and miles of trees, concrete and artificial light that made up my prison... I felt my lips turn downwards in a frown as I remembered just how much I despised this place.

I closed my eyes, feeling the Jagan Eye embedded within my forehead, hidden under my white headband, pulse with another surge of energy. It started out strong and invasive, but only lasted a few minutes before wavering out and weakening, ultimately disappearing completely. That was definitely what these insects where flocking to, like hungry sharks to an open wound.

Was this a sign of things to come, or is the danger already here, right in front of our faces? Hn... But then again, what do I care?

I opened my eyes, viewing the same dark sky, festering above me and growing angrier by the second. Another surge of strange energy pulsated from somewhere in the city, but whoever it was coming from did a good job of hiding their position... No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't pinpoint them... Demon or human.

But somehow, within these bursts of energy that I'd never felt before, I sensed something familiar... Something I still couldn't quite put my finger on, but knew that I'd come across in my lifetime.

Someone that had been part of my past... But it was still a mystery as to who.

X. X. X.

To be continued...


	4. Ch 3: Questions Unanswered

-Ryuka *Present*-

Another week passed in the human world, and the demonic bug infestation was only getting worse by the day... More and more students were overcome by a strange "sickness" going around, some of them missing two or three consecutive days of class, others having to be hospitalized... And worse still, I'd heard a few of them passed away.

Teachers mumbled about diseases breaking out, such as Bird Flu or the West Nile Virus, and the principal had warned us numerous times that we might need to think about wearing medical masks to school to prevent contamination. But I knew that wouldn't do any good... The sickness wasn't contagious from human to human, it was transmitted through the bites of the bugs, which were undetectable to the human eye, and were becoming more and more rabid with each passing day.

I'd sliced and squashed at least three dozen of them, trying my best to exterminate as much of the population as I could, but there were simply too many. It gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, and those surges of energy didn't help much... I knew Koenma was doing his research, but my mind was still racing, trying to figure out all the possible reasons for this strange activity.

I hadn't slept more than five hours all week, and I was so exhausted... It was a good thing it was Friday, and the bell had just rang signaling the end of classes for the day. I needed some coffee, and I needed it bad.

The halls of my high school were a little less crowded than usual, with over a quarter of the student body ill and absent, so it was easier to make my way downstairs and out into the courtyard without too much fuss.

Usually on Fridays after the last bell, my peers were roaring in excitement for the weekend, chattering about the parties they were headed off to or the big football game that evening. Today, though, the crowd seemed sluggish and gloomy. Everyone dragged their feet, just trying to get home to their beds, most likely... It had honestly been a really rough week for everyone, the faculty of the high school included. The only thought on anyone's mind seemed to be who was going to fall victim to this strange sickness next?

On my way across the courtyard, I passed a group of four girls who were huddled together and quietly weeping, one of them grasping a framed picture of her boyfriend, a boy I recognized... Kenshi Toyo, a popular senior and star pitcher of the baseball team. He was one of the most recent ones to pass away from the sickness, his death had been announced just two days before... His picture was a grim reminder to me that whatever was happening was serious, and it's effects were incredibly quick, and equally as devastating.

We had to figure this out. Fast.

X. X. X.

The small, hole-in-the-wall coffee shop I loyally returned to, 'Jung's Cup a' Joe', was only a block and a half away from my school, which I was always thankful for.

When I opened the door, the familier tinkling sound of the gold bell hung above tickled my ears, and the strong, delicious smell of roasting coffee beans enveloped me like a thick blanket.

Only one of the six or so tables was occupied by a single woman, her headphones covering her ears and her nose buried in her laptop as she sipped on her coffee. I briefly glanced at her as she adjusted her glasses before approaching the counter, where I recognized the familiar face of the cashier.

"Hey, Maki." I greeted the young man before he noticed me, too busy refilling the flavored syrups to the right of the register.

My voice startled him a little bit, and he flinched as his eyes flashed upward to my face. When he noticed it was me, his shoulders slacked and he smiled, revealing the thin gap between his two front teeth.

"Hey there, Ryu!" He greeted me as he set down a large jug of Peppermint syrup and wiped his hands on his red apron. Yuck, I hated anything minty, besides toothpaste. "Back for your daily caramel macchiato, double shot of espresso?"

I grinned at the twiggy, dark haired young man as I pulled out my wallet and handed him the exact amount of money that I knew the drink would come out to, "Oh, Maki. You know me so well."

The cashier let out a chuckle as he rang in my order, grabbed the money and stashed it into the register. He then snagged a clear plastic cup with the shop's red logo on it, and began putting the caramel macchiato together.

"So, what are you up to today?" Maki asked me casually as he worked, glancing up at me briefly as he pumped caramel syrup into the cup, then added a little milk, "You just came from school, right?"

"Yup..." I sighed, wishing I could vent about everything that I was going through, but of course that was a definite no-no. Maki was a regular human with no knowledge of the other world's or the dangers that were upon us, and I obviously couldn't let that slip to him. So, I just made something up that I typical high school student would be struggling with. "I'm exhausted, had a test in almost every class today."

Maki nodded in understanding as I absent mindedly flipped through the various gift cards in front of the register. Before I knew it, he was handing the drink across the counter toward me, a smile on his face.

"I know how that is," He went on with our conversation as I politely nodded and took the drink, grabbing a straw and jabbing it through the lid. "I just started night classes about two weeks ago, and they're kicking my ass... I think I have tonight off, though. My teacher sent us an email saying she was really sick..." The young boy's face suddenly fell, the tone in his voice becoming soft and worried, "I hope she's okay."

My heart started beating a little faster at the sound of his story... There was no doubt in my mind that Maki's teacher had been bitten by one of those insects, and odds were that she wasn't okay, not at all.

"Uh..." I stammered, realizing I'd been staring at the boy with wide eyes for a few awkward moments, and picked the conversation right back up, "Yea, I heard on the news that a weird flu or something is going around. I'm sure she's fine... Hey, at least you have the night off, right?"

He shrugged his shoulders and grinned at me, nodding in agreement, "I guess you're right." Suddenly, I heard the bell above the door jingle again, and Maki's eyes automatically brightened as he greeted whoever it was that walked in, "Hello, miss! Welcome to Jung's Cup'a Joe!"

I took the first sip of my cold, creamy drink as I turned around to let the customer step up to the counter, but was taken by surprise when I bumped straight into a body. My hands scrambled to grip my coffee without spilling it, letting out a relieved exhale when I had everything safely steadied.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I glanced upward, "I didn't see-"

"Hello, Ryuka!" A bubbly voice rang in my ears, and instantly I knew who I'd bumped into. I found myself staring into a very familiar pair of bright, squirrely lavender colored eyes, complete with the accent of a powdery blue ponytail.

Standing in front of me was Botan, Chief Pilot of the River Styx, and one of my best friends from the Spirit World. I'd met her ten years ago, and at first I'd honestly hated her... We'd always been so different, our attitudes, senses of humor, style of clothing we liked... Everything was different, if not completely opposite. But after being forced to work with her for the first year, she slowly started growing on me. Now, we were like two peas in a pod...

Although I still wanted to wring her neck, sometimes.

"Jesus, Botan," I said to her as I slightly glared, trying to calm my racing heart, "What have I told you about sneaking up on me like that?"

The blue haired girl giggled cheerfully, "Terribly sorry, dear. I've just got something very important to talk to you about!"

I nodded, knowing Koenma had sent her, so that must have meant she had some details as to what the hell was going on. The two of us started making our way to the door, and as Botan pushed it open, I turned over my shoulder and waved to Maki behind the counter.

"See ya, Maki." I called out, and he bid me farewell as the door swung shut behind Botan and I.

She immediately turned to her right, strolling ahead of me with her arms innocently tucked behind her back. That's when I noticed she was dressed in a school uniform, a blue sailor collared shirt with a yellow ribbon, along with a matching knee length skirt, white socks and brown loafers. It was the girl's uniform for Sarayashiki High, one of my school's rival schools just a few blocks down the road.

It was a decently new school, so I hadn't been assigned there as a student quite yet. In fact, I'd only passed by the building maybe once or twice, never really having much reason to go into that part of town unless it was for work.

"So, is there a reason you're dressed as a Sarayashiki High student," I asked my friend flatly as I hurried my steps to catch up to her, sipping my cold coffee drink, "Or are you just messing around playing dress up again?"

"Well, I've got to blend in down here in the human world, don't I?" Botan asked as she turned to me while flashing me a quirky wink, "I'll admit, I do enjoy wearing these adorable uniforms, though!"

I rolled my eyes at her endless joy as she giggled and twirled around, fanning the skirt out a little bit, "Yea, well try having to wear these things every single day."

"Oh, I would love it!" She cried out sincerely, only coaxing a slightly annoyed sigh from me.

"Of course you would." I grumbled before changing the subject, "I'm assuming Koenma sent you, right?"

Botan nodded as she dipped into an alley way, so abruptly that I almost walked right past it, and scrambled to redirect my feet in order to keep up with her, "Hey! How about a heads up, next time?"

She suddenly held her hand up and manifested her wooden oar out of thin air; Her transportation device to guide souls to the after life, and to travel between worlds. She hopped on, floating in mid-air, leaving enough room for me to take a seat behind her.

"You're absolutely right!" Botan replied to me cheerfully as she patted the space on her oar next to her, "Now hop on. We've got a lot of talking to do."

I gave her a skeptical look as I reluctantly walked closer, taking a seat on her oar. It always made me nervous riding on that thing with her... She drove it like a maniac. "Just don't kill me ple-EEEE!"

My simple request quickly erupted to a scream of surprise as Botan ignited the oar with her spirit energy, taking off into the sky like a bullet out of a gun.

"Hold on tight!" She hollered out with a laugh over the roaring wind whipping around us, but she didn't have to tell me twice. I was already clinging to her for dear life, watching as the city zipped by below us.

"Where are we going?!" I projected my voice as we sailed through the air and my stomach adjusted to the dips and drops.

"Sarayashiki High!" Botan replied simply as she glanced at me over her shoulder, "Why do you think I'm wearing this uniform?!"

I furrowed my eyebrows at my best friend in confusion before yelling back, "I thought you just liked wearing it because it's cute!"

"Well, that's the main reason!" She said, steering the air-bourne oar to the left. I could see the high school coming up fast in the distance; We'd be there in under five minutes. "But the important reason is we're not the only ones involved in this... There's a few more people we've got talk to, and they go to this high school!"

My eyes widened at the sound of "more people"... I definitely didn't want to get stuck working with anyone, and I was about to bail on this. I could solve this damn mystery on my own, without Scooby Doo and the rest of the mystery team. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I never agreed to-"

"Ryuka, please, I've been given very strict orders!" Botan pleaded with me as we slowed down, closing in Sarayashiki High School. "Just cooperate with me this once."

I let out a loud, annoyed sigh, just to make sure she knew how against this I was. "Fine. Whatever..."

"Atta girl." She praised me jokingly, and I rolled my eyes. We drifted through the nearly deserted courtyard on Botan's oar, and she was very careful to avoid the windows at all costs so we weren't seen by any humans. At the edge of one of the buildings, a window was propped open, a yellow handkerchief tied to the sill, wavering in the wind.

"They're up there, in that room." Botan informed me as she propelled the oar toward the edge of the building. "Here we go!"

She directed us right into the open window while skillfully avoiding the others, and soon we were safely inside a dimly lit classroom. It was completely void of humans, save for one tall boy with curly red hair, dressed in the school's blue jumpsuit uniform. He hadn't noticed us yet, and was staring at the classroom door, urgently tapping his fingers against the desk he was leaning on.

"C'mon Urameshi, where the hell are ya...?" He muttered to himself in a deep voice.

"Hello, Kuwabara!" Botan greeted him in her sharp, cheerful voice. The poor guy leapt about three feet in the air, she startled him so badly, and whirled around to face us while clutching his heart.

"GAH! Jeez Botan, the hell are ya tryin' to do, give me a heart attack or somethin'?!" The tall boy known as Kuwabara blubbered out, his face white as a ghost. When his dark, beady eyes landed on me though, he suddenly calmed down and just blankly blinked at me before asking, "Who's the pretty girl?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes as Botan replied, "Sorry to startle you, Kuwabara. This is Ryuka! She works undercover for Spirit World. Koenma has assigned her to work with you all on this very important case-"

"Oh my god, I knew it!" I abruptly groaned, slapping my palm to my forehead, "Koenma's sticking me with another group of his minions. I told him, no more Spirit Detectives!"

"Ryu, you have no choice!" Botan scolded me, furrowing her light blue eyebrows, "This is very serious... The Spirit Detectives need your help!... Speaking of, where is Yusuke?"

Kuwabara shrugged his shoulders and leaned back up against the desk, glancing at the door, "He ran off to fight these three losers a little while ago."

"What?!" Botan shrieked in disbelief, "How could he be so irresponsible!? Does he really think the Chief Pilot of the River Styx has time in her schedule for recreational fighting?!"

"Relax," Kuwabara scoffed, waving her frantic words away like a pesky fly, "None of those guys looked tough. Urameshi probably already flattened 'em and ran off to the mall."

I blinked and raised an eyebrow as I took a seat on top of a filing cabinet in the corner, "The mall...? This is Koenma's fearless spirit detective we're talking about?"

Botan ignored my smart-ass remark, and let out a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chair and studies the floor "Oh, dear... What an awful mess." She glanced at Kuwabara, "Guess I'll just have to tell you, then, Kuwabara..."

"Whadaya mean 'have to'?!" The dopey red haired senior bellowed out, "I'm not some lame-o back up plan!"

"Okay, okay!" Botan said to him, waving her hands around in attempt to quiet down, "Just relax!" She paused to take a deep breath, then began explaining, "The whole thing is kind of bizarre... Koenma hasn't exactly figured out the cause yet, but something is definitely in the works in this city. Strange energy readings keep popping up in random locations, and then just... Vanish."

Kuwabara and I stared at the blue haired girl with wide eyes, quiet until Kuwabara spoke up, "This demon... Can ya tell how big it is...?"

"That's the strangest part..." Botan muttered as she shook her head, "The bursts of energy seem to be coming from a human!"

"Ya mean, someone like Yusuke and I?" Kuwabara asked as his eyebrows twisted up in confusion.

Before Botan could reply, a loud crash came from out in the hallway, followed by a serious of shouts and screams. I was so lost in what Botan and Kuwabara were saying, that the sudden noise caught me off guard, causing me to flinch violently.

"What the hell was that?!" I hissed as all three of us rushed toward the dojo-style door, and Kuwabara slid it open just enough for us to peer out into the hall.

It was empty, but the shouts could still be heard, and they were getting closer and closer by the second.

"It sounds like a riot..." Kuwabara muttered.

Suddenly, a small blue creature came into view, flying around the corner by flapping its huge, floppy ears. It was adorable, but strange looking, almost like a stuffed animal. By the way it looked like a number of different animals mixed together, I knew it wasn't an animal native to the human world.

No, that was definitely a spirit animal... And by the way it was frantically crying out and flapping its long ears with all its might, I'd say it was pretty upset.

"It's Pu...!" Botan gasped as the cute little critter sailed into her arms, crying out over and over and over.

Just then, a huge crowd of students with a few teachers mixed in came barreling around the corner, each of them yelling and hollering about the strange animal they'd just seen tear through their study group in the library.

"There it is!" A nerdy boy with glasses called out, who was leading the small crowd, "Straight in front of us!"

Botan did her best to hide little Pu, but the crowd still stampeded closer, each of them rattling off questions one after the other.

"Is it yours, Kuwabara?"

"What is that thing, anyway...?"

"Yea, they don't sell things like that at the pet store..."

"Why is it blue?"

At that point, none of us knew what the hell to say, until I looked up at Kuwabara, who looked extremely agitated.

"What's the big deal?!" He snapped at the group as he stepped in front of Botan in order to hide the spirit animal, "Haven't you ever seen a blue baby penguin before?!"

"Really? That's what you come up with...?!" I hissed up at him, but he just nudged me with his elbow and Shhed me.

Then, someone else in the crowd spoke up, "But we all know penguins don't fly..."

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS, THE JUNIOR SCIENCE CLUB?!" Kuwabara roared out, fed up with all the questions, "JUST GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE I LOSE MY GOSH DARN TEMPER!'

All the students yelped and screeched in fear before scrambling away from us and tearing down the hallway to avoid Kuwabara's wrath, which I doubted was really very threatening... But hey, it kept our cover, so that's all that mattered.

Once we were safely back in the classroom, I stood back as Botan and Kuwabara attempted to calm the tiny spirit beast, but they weren't very successful. The little guy just kept squawking and screeching, obviously trying to tell them something important.

"What is it, Pu?" Kuwabara asked the critter, "What's goin' on? How the hell did you get here?"

Botan reached out to pet Pu, speaking to it in a soothing voice, "Just calm down and speak to us slowly... Oh, wait. You can't talk."

I sighed and rested my head in my hands as I watched the three of them interact. Good lord, with groups like this working for Koenma, it was a wonder that the world was still standing in one piece.

Pu finally realized it wasn't getting through to anyone with its high pitched squeals, so it quickly flapped over to the chalkboard, snagging a piece of white chalk in its beak. Botan, Kuwabara and I stared intently as the little creature surprisingly wrote out some words in Japanese, but I couldn't quite read what they said until it was all done.

"Yusuke is kidnapped..." I absent minded read allowed, and heard Kuwabara and Botan gasp from next to me.

"Huh?!" The red haired boy grunted as he scanned the three chalky words over and over again.

"What do you mean Yusuke is kidnapped?!" Botan frantically asked Pu, who just continued to shriek in panic.

Kuwabara immediately started pacing, running his hands through his curly hair, "But... But how can that be? Urameshi's not the kinda guy to get kidnapped! You'd expect him to be the kidnapper..."

Pu suddenly let out the loudest, shrillest screech yet, causing us all the flinch.

"Okay, Pu, chill!" Kuwabara barked at the small beast, "Should we take a look at the field next to the school...? That's where Yusuke went last."

Botan and I nodded firmly at his suggestion, before quickly following him out of the classroom and down the hall.

The whole time we were making our way out of the building, I just couldn't help but think that this wasn't exactly part of the plans for this evening...

But hey, I lived for adventure.

X. X. X.

To be continued...


End file.
